Fox News Sued by Dominion Voting Systems for Voter Fraud Conspiracies

Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $ 1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, arguing that the cable news giant, in an effort to increase viewership ratings, falsely claimed that the voting company had rigged the elections of 2020.

The lawsuit is part of a growing body of legal action brought by the voting company and other targets of misleading, false and bizarre claims made by President Donald Trump and his allies after Trump’s electoral defeat to Joe Biden. Those claims helped fuel the rioters who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6 at a violent site that left five people dead, including a police officer. The siege led to Trump’s historic second impeachment trial.

Dominion argues that Fox News, which amplified inaccurate claims that Dominion altered the votes, “sold a false story of voter fraud to serve its own business purposes, seriously injuring Dominion in the process,” according to a copy of the lawsuit.

“The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” the lawsuit says. “… If this case doesn’t rise to the level of defamation by a broadcaster, then nothing does.”

Even before Dominion’s lawsuit on Friday (US time), Fox News had already filed four motions to dismiss other legal actions against its coverage. And host Eric Shawn interviewed a Dominion spokesperson on the air in November.

“Fox News Media is proud of our coverage of the 2020 election, which is in the highest tradition of American journalism, and we will vigorously defend ourselves against this unsubstantiated lawsuit in court,” it said in a statement Friday.

There was no known widespread fraud in the 2020 election, a fact that a number of election officials across the country, and even Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed. Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battlefield states crucial to Biden’s victory, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states. Almost all of the legal challenges from Trump and his allies were dismissed by the justices, including two rejected by the Supreme Court, which has three Trump-nominated justices.

Still, some Fox News employees made false accusations that Dominion had changed votes through algorithms on its voting machines that had been created in Venezuela to manipulate the elections of the late dictator Hugo Chávez. The on-air personalities attracted Trump allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, who spread the claims and then amplified those claims on Fox News’ massive social media platforms.

Dominion said in the lawsuit that he repeatedly tried to set the record straight, but Fox News ignored him.

The company argues that Fox News, a network featuring various pro-Trump personalities, pushed the false claims to explain the loss of the former president. The cable giant lost viewers after the election and Trump and some supporters considered him not supporting the Republican enough.

Dominion’s attorneys said Fox News’ behavior differs greatly from that of other media outlets that reported the claims.

“This was a conscious and conscientious business decision to endorse, repeat and spread these lies to maintain its hearing,” said Susman Godfrey attorney Justin Nelson.

Although Dominion serves 28 states, until the 2020 election it had been largely unknown outside of the voting community. He’s now a widespread target in conservative circles, viewed by millions as one of the main villains in a fictional story in which Democrats across the country conspired to steal votes from Trump, according to the lawsuit.

Dominion employees, from its software engineers to its founder, have been harassed. Some received death threats. And the company has suffered “enormous and irreparable financial damage,” the lawyers said.

One employee, Eric Coomer, said he had to go into hiding due to death threats due to the false claims. He has sued the Trump campaign, conservative media columnists, and conservative news outlets Newsmax and One America News Network.

Dominion also sued Giuliani, Powell and the CEO of Minnesota-based MyPillow over the claims. A rival technology company, Smartmatic USA, also sued Fox News over election claims for a similar sum of money. Unlike Dominion, Smartmatic’s participation in the 2020 elections was limited to Los Angeles County.

Dominion’s attorneys said they have yet to file lawsuits against specific media personalities on Fox News, but the door remains open. Some on Fox News knew the claims were false, but their comments were drowned out, the attorneys said.

“The buck stops with Fox on this,” said attorney Stephen Shackelford. “Fox decided to put this on all of their many platforms. They streamed it, republished it on social media and elsewhere.”

The lawsuit was filed in Delaware, where both companies are incorporated, although Fox News is based in New York and Dominion is based in Denver.